I beg to differ, you forgot that it's Littlefinger we're talking about here. Not only did Sansa not receive a word from him that he's coming, but also there's the trust thing that even if he said he's coming it would be dangerous for her to give her word to Jon based on Littlefinger's.Not to mention there's no scenario in which Ramsay lets Rickon willingly stay alive, Rickon is the rightful heir of winterfell and poses a greater threat to Ramsay than Jon himself.

Now I'm not a sadist myself, but if I had a rule in how to kill that freak I wouldn't even kill him so fast like that. To me physical pain is NOTHING compared to mental pain.

I guess, but Jon was on the offensive, he could have picked any time to attack Ramsay, and if he knew about the Vale army, he could have waited for them to join Jons forces. Having Rickon as a hostage legitiamises his claim to the north, he could have easily have turned Rickon into an obedient slave like Theon.

I hate Ramsay too, but GRRM always wrote in contrary to readers expectations, and characters that did deserve retribution, like Jamie and Theon ended up being humiliated in ways that readers didn't expect or thought they deserved. Giving Ramsay a gruesome death by the hands of his captive feels like fan service to me.

The only thing that surprised me is that the wildfire happened so soon. I thought it would be like the last segment. Or close to it.

But, Cersei will be never be Dany. She will never be Griffith(different show/medium, I know). She will now be more foul than ever. Whatever smugness/joy she has will turn to ashes once again and in the end, she will be nothing. No one. And I don't mean in the awesome way.

I think most of this episode was fan pandering, but it was so satisfying (possibly in all the wrong ways). Coming off the superficial experience, I thought it was utterly fantastic. Who knows if I'll feel the same after some time to let it soak in. So, R+L=J is all but confirmed, so that's cool.

I guess, but Jon was on the offensive, he could have picked any time to attack Ramsay, and if he knew about the Vale army, he could have waited for them to join Jons forces. Having Rickon as a hostage legitiamises his claim to the north, he could have easily have turned Rickon into an obedient slave like Theon.

I hate Ramsay too, but GRRM always wrote in contrary to readers expectations, and characters that did deserve retribution, like Jamie and Theon ended up being humiliated in ways that readers didn't expect or thought they deserved. Giving Ramsay a gruesome death by the hands of his captive feels like fan service to me.

Don't forget that Jon himself said multiple times that the battle can't wait, because the longer he waits the more horses and men he's going to lose to the cold. Again, I mentioned the trust issue so that it kills the argument that says "if he knew, he could've waited." Basically he won't ever know for sure because it's Littlefinger's word. I don't understand what turning Rickon would accomplish that killing him won't?

Heh. You know I thought of that. I am almost positive that there was a Night's Queen in the past. At first, I thought that Lady Stoneheart might fit the bill, but since it doesn't look like she'll appear, Cersei would be a fitting consort for the Night's King since she's pretty much dead already.

I read all books in 2011 + Dunk and Egg. I know that this is a sweeping introductory statement but the show has 100% jumped the shark in S05 and the somewhat more content rich (i am not saying better) S06 didnīt improve. It used to be a 10/10 but my Imdb rating will be 7/10 if next seasons just keeps being an over the top soap opera with way too much over-glorified... well everything.My biggest gripes are what they did to Littlefinger (that S05 ep. was utter nonsense and made me notice the "fall") and Stannis Burnratheon, who was my No.1 guy . Book 4 / 5 (the highlighted critical amazon reviews are top notch) arenīt that much better either but the ending to the 5th book was phenomenal and i can see improvements down the line for at least them. Not the, now much different, show though.I can best compare S05/06 of GoT to True Detective S02. Undeniably beautiful, well put together, well acted but soul- /directionless. All my friends (who all also read the books) share my sentiments and i got to have a LOT of pretty one sided discussion with them. Oh well, not that any of us will stop... .I predict 8 seasons but the last will be split in 2 8-ish episode parts over 2 years (arenīt they all now?). My big S06 takeaway is that the now famous cinematographer Fabian Wagner will make Justice League look like beast (not that the Battle of the Bastards was all that well written) and S02 of the TT game has me lastly way more excited than S07. The 1st slightly stretched out game was a 8,5/10.PS: #Teamnightking indeed, he is still "untainted" XionHorsey and Samwell will burn in that library.

I didn't see any new red flags, besides the notable cold open it was a pretty typical introductory episode setting everyone in their places for the season. I was actually pleasantly surprised by the normal pace (granted, I don't have high expectations after the past two seasons), especially after the the talk coming in and that intro, because rushing to the finish won't make for a satisfying end. Otherwise I'm not sure what about it is fan servicey beyond stuff we've been waiting 6 seasons for may actually happen this season... or the next. =) Satisfying payoffs in and of themselves aren't fan service though, and it's not like this episode was abundant with them anyway.

I didn't see any new red flags, besides the notable cold open it was a pretty typical introductory episode setting everyone in their places for the season. I was actually pleasantly surprised by the normal pace (granted, I don't have high expectations after the past two seasons), especially after the the talk coming in and that intro, because rushing to the finish won't make for a satisfying end. Otherwise I'm not sure what about it is fan servicey beyond stuff we've been waiting 6 seasons for may actually happen this season... or the next. =) Satisfying payoffs in and of themselves aren't fan service though, and it's not like this episode was abundant with them anyway.

Well to me they were easy to spot. Arya killing all the Freys, the Hound with his fire revelation, the not so nicely written Euron's speach to Cersei, Jorah Mormont's hand in oldtown. I'm still enjoying it but it shows a lot that they don't have original material to base themselves on.

I get what you mean by placing everybody but still felt not that good vs the first 4 and half seasons. Of course i've found this episode way better then the opening one for season 6.

Well to me they were easy to spot. Arya killing all the Freys, the Hound with his fire revelation, the not so nicely written Euron's speach to Cersei, Jorah Mormont's hand in oldtown. I'm still enjoying it but it shows a lot that they don't have original material to base themselves on.

That's all pretty normal story stuff though, i.e. payoffs, setups, exposition. I'm not seeing anything superflourous or at the story's expense, and save for the opening it was all pretty dry and strightrfoward. I do understand if you found it all a bit underwhelming though, the show still suffers from perfunctory "paint by numbers" scenes to advance the plot, "I propose an evil alliance for us evil characters!" Oh boy. I thought the worst thing by far was pop muppet Ed Sheeran making a cameo though. That's like fan anti-service or something. I am not served by this!

I get what you mean by placing everybody but still felt not that good vs the first 4 and half seasons. Of course i've found this episode way better then the opening one for season 6.

I guess I wasn't expecting much from the opening episode or comparing it to the others. I think people get so excited thinking of all the best scenes and forgetting this show is largely a frustrating exercise in disposable content, waiting and incremental progress before a big shocking death/payoff. If they'd somehow put the first scene at the end it would have felt far more satisfying, and would have been worth it to get rid of Ed, though I did like the contrast that scene in the forest had against the current life of a certain large, entertainingly cynical, and currently very cold swordsman.

That's all pretty normal story stuff though, i.e. payoffs, setups, exposition. I'm not seeing anything superflourous or at the story's expense, and save for the opening it was all pretty dry and strightrfoward. I do understand if you found it all a bit underwhelming though, the show still suffers from perfunctory "paint by numbers" scenes to advance the plot, "I propose an evil alliance for us evil characters!" Oh boy. I thought the worst thing by far was pop muppet Ed Sheeran making a cameo though. That's like fan anti-service or something. I am not served by this!

I guess I wasn't expecting much from the opening episode or comparing it to the others. I think people get so excited thinking of all the best scenes and forgetting this show is largely a frustrating exercise in disposable content, waiting and incremental progress before a big shocking death/payoff. If they'd somehow put the first scene at the end it would have felt far more satisfying, and would have been worth it to get rid of Ed, though I did like the contrast that scene in the forest had against the current life of a certain large, entertainingly cynical, and currently very cold swordsman.

I agree pretty with everything you said here. It's just like I said, the feel is not the same as in the beginning and I'm not saying that from an action or "end of the series" angle. It just drop quality in some aspect as in the creators are good story tellers when they have something to base themselves on but when it's just them well things get funky a bit.

But it's somehting they clearly did not expect when they started the project. They did not think the series would not be done by the time they caught up. So they got fucked a bit. It still worked well for them at some point since they could still continue the story lines of some characters that was already messed up.

Overall I was still satisfied for that kind of tv show. I just hope it won't get a "lost" treatment for this season and the final one. We'll see soon enough anyway.

This show is devolving more and more into fanfic as time goes on, it's clear the writers are completely lost without GRRM holding their hand, why is it unethical to take Kings Landing with dragons, but okay to besiege the city, condemning thousands to a slower death by starvation? Why is Theon going through yet another Reek redemption arc? he's shed his Reek persona several times now, why is Danerys completley fine with recruiting Varys after he admits to attempting to kill her, and not being especially loyal to anybody, a confrontation they should have had before they even sailed to Dragonstone.

This show is devolving more and more into fanfic as time goes on, it's clear the writers are completely lost without GRRM holding their hand, why is it unethical to take Kings Landing with dragons, but okay to besiege the city, condemning thousands to a slower death by starvation? Why is Theon going through yet another Reek redemption arc? he's shed his Reek persona several times now, why is Danerys completley fine with recruiting Varys after he admits to attempting to kill her, and not being especially loyal to anybody, a confrontation they should have had before they even sailed to Dragonstone.

Like I said ealier in a previous post, I think it shows that they don't have any material to base themselves on so we get to have sketchy/badly developped plot like the one with Euron (that they somehow mess up his actual look, which would have been fucking easy to do on tv). They needed a "bad guy" on the field since they killed off all the other "bad guys" and since it's pretty sure Cersei's just gonna sit on her throne for the rest of the season.

I also had a conversation with my girlfriend about Varys and the speach he got from Daenarys at Dragonstone... Oh well, we're stuck with it anyway so we'll see where it'll lead.

Fanfic? You better accustom yourself to the idea that the tv show will become canon. I highly doubt the series will have an ending in written form, and supposedly GRRM wants it to die with him (which makes sense), so no writer can touch it after he's gone.